Saturday, November 26, 2016

Mainline churches in Canada are dying. Since 1960, Lutherans,
Anglicans, Presbyterians and the United Church have lost half their members.
The United Church closes one church a week, on average.

But a few mainline congregations are thriving and growing. Why
is that?

That was the question
three Canadian academics—David Millard Haskell and Stephanie Burgoyne of
Wilfrid Laurier University and Kevin Flatt of Redeemer University
College—set out to answer.

In their research paper, titled “Theology Matters: Comparing the
traits of Growing and Declining Mainline Protestant Church Attendees and
Clergy,” they discovered that when it comes to whether a mainline church is
growing or declining, what people—and especially what clergy—believe matters.

“We hypothesized that beliefs play a role” in whether a church
grows or declines, Flatt told me. “Our research showed that was the case.”

Through the research, which surveyed clergy and congregants from
nine growing and 13 declining Anglican, United, Lutheran and Presbyterian
churches in Ontario, the researchers found that the more theologically
conservative a church is, the more likely it is to be growing.

Conversely, the more liberal theologically it is, the more
likely it is to be declining.

At growing churches, for example, 93
percent of pastors and 83 percent of congregants agreed with the statement:
“Jesus rose from the dead with a real, flesh-and-blood body leaving behind an
empty tomb.” At declining churches, only 56 percent of clergy and 67 percent of
congregants believed that to be true.

When asked if “God performs miracles
in answer to prayer,” 100 percent of clergy and 90 percent of congregants at
growing churches agreed, compared to 44 percent of clergy and 80 percent of
congregants at declining churches.

When it comes to evangelism, 100
percent of pastors and 78 percent of congregants at growing churches agreed “it
is very important to encourage non-Christians to become Christians.” Just 50
percent of pastors and 56 percent of congregants of declining churches felt
that way.

When asked to describe the purpose
or mission of their church, people at growing churches most often spoke of
evangelism and sharing their faith. Those in declining churches named social
justice activities as the main purpose, without reference to religious
motivation or outcomes.

Another item of interest from the
survey is Bible reading; 71 percent of clergy in growing churches read the
Bible daily, compared to 19 percent at declining churches.

Worship style is another interesting
factor. The survey found that growing mainline churches featured contemporary
worship with drums and guitar in at least one of their Sunday services, while
declining churches most often used a traditional worship style featuring organ
and choir.

What does it all add
up to? In a press release, researcher David Millard Haskell put it this way:
“If we are talking about what belief system is more likely to lead to numerical
growth among Protestant churches, the evidence suggests conservative Protestant
theology is the clear winner.”

As for the link between the clergy and growing or declining
churches, Flatt added it could be because congregations mirror their clergy
over time, or because clergy pull people over to their positions. Either way,
he stated, “leadership plays a key role.”

The research suggests a way forward for the struggling mainline
denominations, although it might be hard for some to accept. And Flatt doesn’t
want to minimize the challenge facing those groups.

“I don’t want to overstate how many growing mainline churches
there are,” he said, noting it was hard to find nine growing mainline churches
to study—even in the most populated and church-rich part of Canada.

“It took a lot of looking,” he said. “The reality is that the
four major mainline denominations are in decline.”

While reading about the research, which will be published in the
journal Review of Religious Research in December, I had to
think about the controversy raised by Gretta Vosper, the self-described atheist
United Church pastor.

In September, a review committee in that denomination
recommended that she is “not suitable” to
continue in her role because she doesn’t believe in God.

If the United Church needs another reason for
why it should part ways with Vosper, who downplays traditional Christian
beliefs in favour of a more humanistic approach, the research is pretty clear.

As Flatt noted, “churches that want to go that route will tend
not to be growing churches.”

2 comments:

Growth/decline stats say nothing on their own about church's faithfulness to the gospel. Witness, for example, the support among conservative Christians for Trump. Conservative theologies provide safe havens, but where in the gospel are we admonished to strive for safety?